🗓️30 DecSixth day of the christmas octave

🕯️On this day, set within the sacredness of the Octave of Christmas, the Church does not celebrate a specific saint with their own festivity but prolongs the joy of the Savior's birth, allowing the light of the Incarnation to penetrate more deeply into the souls of the faithful. In the traditional calendar prior to 1950, days within the octave that were not feast days of saints (such as St. Stephen or St. John) or the Sunday within the Octave, resumed the liturgy of Christmas to emphasize the continuity of the mystery. It is a liturgical time of spiritual "rumination," where the kindness of God, manifested in the flesh, is the central object of adoration. The Church invites us to remain in spirit beside the manger, uniting the joy of the shepherds with the contemplative silence of the Virgin Mary, recognizing that the work of redemption, initiated at birth, is a free gift of divine mercy and not the fruit of human merits.

🎼Introit (Is 9:6 | Ps 96:1)
Puer natus est nobis, et fílius datus est nobis: cujus impérium super húmerum ejus: et vocábitur nomen ejus magni consílii Angelus. Ps. Cantáte Dómino cánticum novum, quia mirabília fecit. A Child is born to us, and a Son is given to us: Whose government is upon His shoulder: and His Name shall be called the Angel of Great Counsel. Ps. Sing ye to the Lord a new canticle: because He hath done wonderful things.

📜Epistle (Tit 3:4-7)
Dearly Beloved: The goodness and kindness of God our Savior appeared: not by the works of justice which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, by the laver of regeneration and renovation of the Holy Ghost, whom He hath poured forth upon us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior: that, being justified by His grace, we may be heirs according to hope of life everlasting in Christ Jesus our Lord.

📖Gospel (Lk 2:15-20)
At that time, the shepherds said one to another: Let us go over to Bethlehem and let us see this word that is come to pass, which the Lord hath showed to us. And they came with haste: and they found Mary and Joseph, and the Infant lying in the manger. And seeing, they understood of the word that had been spoken to them concerning this Child. And all that heard wondered: and at those things that were told them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these words, pondering them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.

🛐The memory of the heart and the gratuity of grace

🕊️The liturgy of this day within the Octave places us before the sublime paradox of the Christian faith: divine omnipotence manifested in the fragility of a child and salvation offered freely, regardless of our previous works. The Apostle Paul, in the Epistle to Titus, distills the theology of Christmas by stating that we were saved "not by the works of justice which we have done, but according to His mercy." This doctrinal truth finds its living illustration in the Gospel, where simple shepherds, without apparent social or religious merits, are the first invited to contemplate the Word. Saint Augustine, meditating on this mystery, reminds us that "He who rules the stars sucks at the maternal breast; He, who feeds the angels, is hungry" (St. Augustine, Sermon 184). It is before this contrast that the soul must position itself. While the shepherds represent the active life and the apostolate, rushing to announce the wonders seen, the Virgin Mary personifies the perfect contemplative life. The sacred text says that she "kept all these words, pondering them in her heart." The original Greek word suggests "piecing together," "conferring"; Mary Most Holy, the Seat of Wisdom, united the ancient prophecies with the present reality of the manger, weaving the theology of the Incarnation in the silence of her immaculate soul. As St. Thomas Aquinas teaches, the contemplation of divine truth is the ultimate end of human life, and Mary teaches us that Christmas is not merely an event to be celebrated externally, but a mystery to be generated internally. We must, therefore, ask for the grace of this "regeneration and renovation of the Holy Ghost" mentioned by St. Paul, so that, imitating the Mother of God, we may preserve the Incarnate Word within us, transforming the passing joy of the feast into the solid hope of eternal life.

📅See English version of the critical articles here.